Snap-acting electrical switches having a switching element of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,777,032 and 3,105,886, the details of which are incorporated herein by this reference, have been successfully built for many years and are still in wide use. Such switching elements comprise a blade of a flat resilient material having a pair of outer legs and a center leg extending essentially in the same direction from a junction portion. The free ends of the outer legs are connected to a support by a pair of connections which are spaced from one another such that the outer legs are distorted or warped toward one another, thus urging the center leg toward a position of relative equilibrium into electrical engagement with a first stationary electrical contact thereby providing a pair of normally closed contacts. An actuating element is disposed adjacent at least one of the outer legs and is movable into engagement with one or both outer legs to bias the outer leg(s) into the opposite warped configuration away from each other thereby causing the center leg to move in the opposite direction away from the first electrical stationary contact and into engagement with a second, normally open, electrical stationary contact disposed at a location on the opposite side of a plane, passing through the support location of the outer legs, from the position of the first electrical stationary contact.
Even though the above described switches and switching elements have been very effective, it would be desirable to improve the operational performance of such switches and switching elements, for example, with regard to lowering the electrical contact resistance of the normally closed contacts and increasing the normally closed contact force.